Traumatic Brain Injury Basics

Overview

Doctors say that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a catastrophic condition, like burns, amputations, and spinal cord injuries. But TBI is different. It upsets life on multiple levels: physical, psychological, social, and even spiritual. TBI affects the roots of who we are — our ability to think, to communicate, and to connect with other people. For approximately 85 percent of people with TBI, those problems eventually resolve, but the remaining 15 percent have lasting difficulties. If you’re dealing with lingering symptoms of a TBI, or if you’re caring for a loved one, it can help to understand more about the wide range of challenges that TBI can pose.

A tap on the head, and anything can go wrong. Anything usually does go wrong. Light taps — mild TBI — can result in daily headaches, agitated moods, or periods of sleeplessness. Stronger jolts may cause you to forget your name, or make you think you’re someone different. When you tell someone you’re sad, you may unintentionally yell. A TBI can introduce a frustrating amount of confusion and uncertainty into your life

TBI by the Numbers

TBI has a way of affecting everything and everyone in your life. It can make family life tough, and it can seriously impede your ability to work. It can affect the relationships you have and make it harder to make new friends. In the United States, TBI is a quiet crisis. As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with a permanent disability resulting from a brain injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 2.8 million Americans report a traumatic brain injury each year. Fifty-six thousand people die from it. Over a two hundred eighty-two thousand people are hospitalized. Some of them go home only to discover they no longer have a sense of smell or taste, or that their sleeping habits have changed, or that they can’t seem to do their job anymore.

If you look at the numbers a little differently, they’re even more upsetting. So many Americans become disabled from a brain injury that each decade they could fill a city the size of Detroit. Seven of these cities are filled already. A third of their citizens are under fourteen years of age. Currently, there are at least 125,000 people with a brain injury so severe that it requires extended hospital care — a service difficult to find and even harder to access. Fortunately, the majority of people who experience TBI will be able to return to a productive life once they receive appropriate treatment

A Closer Look at the Brain

Even though the numbers are large, it’s important to remember that TBI is a human injury. It has a way of showing us that life is fragile and precious. Because the brain is a complicated network of cells, each injury is as distinctive as the person it affects. Our skulls are only a quarter inch thick, although male skulls are a little thicker, which is lucky considering the fact that men tend to get TBI more often than women. The skull is both protective and restricting; it is the brain’s best defense but also its greatest risk in times of trauma.

Surrounding the brain is an almost rubbery, clear layer of tissue called the dura mater. It helps protect the brain from moving around too much. Beneath the dura mater is another layer called the arachnoid layer, which looks and feels like wet cotton candy. The dura mater, the arachnoid layer, and another layer — the pia mater — all form what is known as the meninges, which keeps the brain floating inside the skull. If these layers get infected, ripped, or torn, it can cause serious damage to the brain

Types of TBI

Every brain injury is different, but there are two basic types: open head injuries and closed head injuries. Open head TBIs are a frightening mess. Whether the injury comes from a bullet, a baseball bat, or a high-speed collision, the result is always chaotic and distressing. The scalp bleeds a lot when it is cut, and when the skull is cracked or penetrated, pieces of it can get lodged in the brain. Because the brain is such a complicated tangle of tissue, it’s extremely tricky to remove objects lodged inside a brain. That’s why we put brain surgery right up there with rocket science in our everyday language.

In a closed head injury, nothing penetrates your skull, but a closed head injury can be just as complicated and vicious as an open head injury, sometimes more so. During a closed head injury, the brain may slam against one portion of the skull, then bounce against the opposite side of the wall. Doctors call that a “coup-contracoup” injury, where two injuries occur from a single blow. One of the most common types of closed head injury is a concussion — a strong blow from an external force. If a person’s head is whipped around, a small tearing effect called shearing occurs throughout the brain, resulting in a diffuse axonal injury. Axons are the hairlike extensions of nerve cells that transmit messages, so in a diffuse axonal injury, the messages either get mixed up, or they don’t come through at all

Treating and Living With TBI

An injured brain also has a tendency to swell, so if there is no room in the skull to expand, the swollen brain may start pushing against the eye sockets. The optic nerve eventually gets pinched, and eyesight is affected. A surgeon might drill holes into a skull to test cranial pressure. If the swelling is too extreme, the only option is to create an escape hatch by sawing away a portion of the skull.

The neurosurgeon is in charge of protecting the brain through medical procedures, but the survivor has to manage life with the effects of the TBI. Everyone reacts differently, depending in part on the severity of the injury, the quality of their care, and the strength of the social network around them. Many survivors feel pulled in different directions, feeling at times that the injury has made them less than what they were, and at other times that they can integrate TBI into their lives in a positive way. People with TBI are forced to confront a whole series of personal questions: How does my injury really affect me? Can I regain the things I’ve lost? What am I other than my brain? How can I make the most of my life?

Looking Ahead

Our understanding of TBI is changing in front of our eyes. As organizations such as the Brain Trauma Foundation continue to define the best practices in treating brain injury, medical care is slowly improving — at least for those patients able to gain access to early trauma care. The war in Iraq has already changed the way we treat TBI in America. Military surgeons who learned life-saving techniques like early cranioplasty are able to employ similar protocols in American trauma centers

In the years to come, we may increasingly see brain trauma as a chronic but manageable condition similar to diabetes or cardio-pulmonary disease. That perspective might also help in reducing the negative stereotypes of TBI. For now, though, TBI survivors and those who care for them continue to face serious challenges in finding help and finding acceptance.

TBI is a much more manageable injury today than it has been in the past, but it remains a major health problem. As people with TBI continue to live longer and face the challenges of aging with TBI, it will be our duty to provide better education and long-term programs and services. We all have brains; let’s continue to use them — injured or not — to support TBI prevention, research, and treatment.

Posted on BrainLine February 13, 2018. Reviewed March 27, 2019.

About the Author

Michael Paul Mason is the founding editor of This Land, a monthly magazine based in Tulsa. Mason's first book, Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath, is an exploration into the harsh realities endured by people with brain injury. Mason's first book, Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath, is an exploration into the harsh realities endured by brain injury survivors. While currently a brain injury projects manager at the Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute at Brookhaven Hospital, Mason continues to advocate on behalf of Americans with brain injury and is involved with several national legislative initiatives. Learn more about Michael Paul Mason >

My daughter had a very severe blow to her brain 20 years ago and was unconscious for over an hour. She was checked by a neurologist for months afterwards and was declared clear. She now has an MRI showing white blood cells in the brain at the site of the injury 20 years ago. Is it possible this is still from the trauma as they are now checking her for MS? Any advice would be much appreciated.

I have a friend who was just recently hit by a car while riding his atv and now seems to be suffering from amnesia, as he doesn't know who I am, where he is, and what happened. Unfortunately he has had a previous head injury from a atv accident where the removed a piece of his skull to relieve swelling and replaced it with a metal plate. His new injury is right next to the old injury. He has bleeding on the brain also which through the Kat scan is increasing. Will this eventually fix itself and about how long will it take.

I guess you'd call me a baby boomer . I was raised in the 50's when stuff was kept in the family. My dad was a very short tempered and frustrated man . His main thing was to grab me around the neck and hit his fist on my head . This went on constantly to the point I was once knocked out . He did this my entire childhood until I moved out when I was 18 . How would I find out if I have TBI and how could I treat it now ? I'm 72

I had a head injury when I was about 20 years old or so. I got hit in head with tree. So they cut my skull open for blood to drain. Now some time it burns and hurts were they cut my scalp or skull I don't think it's inside my brain. Just outside is this just nerve damage or sumthing else any help would be great or any one else deal with this. For 1 example I put my motor cycle helmet on and lean my head over it burns real bad. Use to just do it then now it does if I move my head a certain way or raise my eye brows up. It burns and feels weird there. Thanks ?

Hello everyone I am 37 years old and I suffer from a Traumatic brain injury. When I was 24 years old I got into a catastrophic car accident which led me in a coma for almost 4 months on the way to the hospital I died six times I suffered a collapsed long punctured spleen punctured bladder bleeding in the brain broken ribs broken pelvis Broken hips broken leg and also a broken clavicle i also jacked up my back I’m in pain every day which totally sucks I also have very bad nerve damage which affects my sciatica nerve. So I’m going to start off with this when I was nine years old my dad was in a horrible car accident and he also suffers from a Traumatic brain injury I’m gonna to try to keep this short and sweet and not get too much into detail. Please Can someone please help me out? Does anyone know anyone in my position where their father suffered a Traumatic brain injury when they were a child then later on in life they suffer for a Traumatic brain injury? I really need some help on this because I feel alone. I have therapy I see a psychologist twice a week and psychiatrist once a week. It would be greatly appreciated if someone could help me out. I hope someone out there can help me. Thank you Mike

Hi Mike. Have you gotten any answers to your question yet? My dad suffered many TBIs, some before I was even born. He lived a risky and dangerous lifestyle. I got my TBI when I was 17. I had just graduated high school with honors when I was struck by a drunk driver. You're not alone. TBIs can and do just happen to the best of us. ☺️

Hi Mike. Back in the sixties my Dad was hit head on in his little MG Midget by a Mack truck. It was a very foggy night- Christmas Eve- and needless to say, he didn't join us for Christmas that year. When he finally came home, he was wrapped from head to toe in white bandages. He looked like the Mummy from the movies. He had his scalp pulled back over his skull and broke most of his ribs. He was never properly treated for a brain injury, and now that he is gone I finally understand what may have been a tragic situation for him, a severe blow to the front of his head. I now also have a TBI, but fortunately for me it was to the back of my head (I was thrown from a faulty inversion table onto the back of my head a year ago), and I deal with balance issues, headaches, feel like I'm lost in space, frightened a lot about the future. I am lucky that I have a job I can work when I feel up to it, and I still perform with other musicians. This is no picnic, but I realize it could have been so much worse. Hang in there, bro. You are not alone.

My father had TBI a couple of weeks ago and is currently at an LTAC facility in Las Vegas. He is currently in minimal conscious state. Do you have any recommendations for support groups in the area for family members?

Hi Todd, I can point you toward general resources, though I'm unfamiliar with Las Vegas. A traumatic brain injury effects the entire family (as I'm sure you know). It can be considered a shared trauma. Any support group that helps facilitate trauma processing can help, whether TBI specific or not. You can look at local counseling services for emotional support groups. Hospitals may offer emotional support groups as well. Oftentimes a small, local paper will have a list of different groups happening in your area. I wish you and your family the best. -Shay

Feb 15, 2015, I was involved in a car accident with black ice being the culprit. The person who rear-ended me just left me. I was found by someone passing by on the highway who saw my car in a ditch smoking from the engine. They called for help. The ambulance deemed it was too dangerous to transport me, so they called air support. When I arrived at the hospital, I died three times. They were able to get me stable, but I laid in a coma for three months.

I eventually woke from the coma and was told that I died three times, had been in a coma, and now suffer from a TBI. At first, I was ignorant and just couldn't sit still. But after physical therapy and going home the reality of having a traumatic brain injury started to kick in. I often thought "why couldn't I have just died?" My anger was unmanageable. I just had so much rage that it was unbearable for the people around me. I would get mad at anything. I would even amuse myself on how ridiculous I was being. The hardest part was no doctor could explain what I was experiencing.

I am going on four years and every day is a new experience. The problem for me is that no memory can stay long enough to become long-term memory. I feel like a newborn every morning I awake!

No one ever explained to me what I was going through but my life sucks. I can't remember anything to save my life. I was on felony probation. Starting a well when I get t-boned by a car waiting to turn. Didn't even see me while I was on a motorized mountain bike doing at least 30. They had to put me out for fighting with them.

Everything I just read really spells out what I been going through for about 9 years. I grew up ADD and learning disability so it was really ..I mean IS very hard. I haven't felt no pain at all so that's nice but I have been through so much stuff already that my brain is just mush. Sometimes I pretended to be so spacey because I can't remember anything short term so now I just don't even really try to remember stuff because I'll forget what I been running in my head for days.

I can mostly get to work on time. Still back inside a few times every day. And can't just be like ok it's fine I can bring it tomorrow.. no way. Then the process is compromised and I'll be lost all day even more.

I signed myself out of the hospital. My family, soon as I'm up they got to go home. So all alone for 9 or 10 years just being passive and excepting I'm unable to function. So I just go to prison with no idea the situation I read in. The hospital nursery let me go. I was so mean when I got up trying to get my girlfriend to get in bed with me. A vikodin 9 I think is what I was getting every 4 hrs. With fractures up both side of body from ankle to wrist, three ribs, and two parts of my back. I was alone now not even recollecting. They just let me go cause I was mean to everyone maybe? None told me "hey this is what happens" or "here's where you need to go" to be thought to process your confusion with stuff you know but you don't.

My lawyer didn't do nothing for me. He ended up with more than me after I had to pay all the bills and lawyer out of the little S100,000 I got for being injured for life.

No one ever explained anything to me. I thought I was fine. I didn't remember the accident and maybe one time was told I need to go see this counselor. Anyway, that's what happened to me. Got three small plates in my face where they went in behind my eye. Twenty feet bouncing off the windshield landing on my face. I didn't know until I went to prison and got my psi investigation for sentencing. Got 10 years for trying to cash $500 stolen check. Didn't even get to cash it, they knew. But ten years ago when I was 15 got jumped after friends and I chased some other kids home. My friends started running away when they came out with sticks and bats. Not me. I'm already in it. I took this guy's bat after I let him swing and chasing hitting him his friends jump out from hiding waiting. Straight in the back head with bat doing doggie paddle cause 5 people are all trying to hit my face with wepons. Had a concussion for couple days couldn't remember. Kept having to ask what happened when I'm trying to share the stories.

About 28 years old my best friend was tricked into thinking I'm stealing something his wife pawned while he was in jail. Set me up. At my face again another bat. Couldn't close my teeth my lips were so swollen. Ducktape saved my face..

This was just after the first five years in prison. Then another ten years to help my girlfriend try and cash this check cause her kids are gone and we're trying to get them back.

At a homeless shelter now after 8 months for probation. Got a job going every day but no license so it's motorized cause work is 10 miles away from where I live. And bam, kiss the windshield out on contact. I'm grateful I do not remember but like a dead fish on my face after 20 feet.

Not figuring out why I spend most hrs trying to remember what I was going for with everyone saying "oh yeah me too trying to remember." "Getting old," they say.

Anyway this blog or whatever it is really helped me and now I'm off to doctor first thing because my nose has been dripping. I'm more sick and it's like light yellow colored just keeps on coming out. Oh and now I have an electric bike. It does 40 mph all over. Still no license but I got to work. Now out there again in the snow ice and rain freezing 7 miles to work at 6am along with everyone trying to get to work. So I got a car now. I'm suspended so i might go to prison for it. I have been out over two years with 0 trouble. I am getting off early soon. Quit one job cause I felt uncomfortable after everyone thinks I'm just on drugs. That's why I'm never the same one day to next. I was doing pot and that's the only way I can sleep or alcohol. Otherwise, pillows can't be used and need smoked every morning with no sleep. Now I have Gout in my toe too that sometimes wake up and can't walk well at all.

Got no insurance, no family in the same state. They moved here from the coast when I was in juvie. Alone there and now moved back while I stayed here on parole working with now on top of the trouble I get in trying to be excepted cause I'm being taken care of just like whole life.

No one to teach me nothing. Growing up mom had PTSD my grandpa abused them all. Now for two years, I been making it work but I quit job to go back to another but I can't remember things enough to keep up and not do things obviously wrong. Tried another job and was told I can find another job that "there's not much going on.." so now I'm in an apartment rented through a motel cause lived there about a year with no job no food and rents due in 3 days.

So now put all my things that I can't sell into my piece of crap car and moved back to the shelter. To start all over.

I'm trying to do so good so I can move back to Oregon and be done with where I'm at now.

I have never been on meds or had a doctor to even get any. Ritalin when I was 12 for a month. I really think I need help with resources to help me with rent while I get some very much needed medical attention to help me get focused, get my license insurance, and a way to relearn how to learn without having anxiety attacks daily.

I know most may have moved on but I really needed to get that out. I've been through a lot and being a drug user I don't even know what to ask for and if I would even get it. It needs to be something that is stronger than normal cause my tolerance naturally is way more than most since I have been self-medicating my whole life.

Goodnight lol.. thankful runny nose led me here where I learned a lot. I really am going through it. Now should I be worried about brain fluids coming out my nose? I been physically working harder than I ever have the last few weeks. I'll tell yeah should I be worried no headaches or nothing ever but my thought process makes it very hard to learn and maintain in work involvement. It can be and I do ok but I'm always late and confused.

My daughter suffered a TBI and brain shearing on the top and both sides of her brain almost two years ago. She was fifteen and playing in Las Vegas in a soccer game with her club team. She was taken out by opposing team player and hit her head hard twice on the hard ground. She had a seizure on the field and when she arrived at the hospital in Las Vegas they put her into a medically induced coma for 24 hours.

When she finally came out of her coma and was able to speak, they permitted her to fly home to Cincinnati to be treated at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. We were in and out of Children's hospital for a few weeks. It was so frustrating not knowing how long it was going to take until I got my daughter back.

Her TBI caused her to have a totally different personality. She slept 23 out of 24 hours, only wanted to eat doughnuts and ice cream when awake, she was extremely rude to everyone and became very interested in boys. She was unable to go to school due to her erratic behavior. I was not sure if I would ever have my daughter back and doctors couldn't tell me much.....

After three weeks, it was as if a light bulb had turned on. My daughter came to me saying she was ready to go back to school. Doctors okayed it and we have never looked back. We are so extremely lucky!! She has since returned to soccer and has a scholarship to play for a D1 college next year. I am so fearful watching her play. I fear that she could receive another TBI due to the level of play. I will never be comfortable after that experience.....

Hi Sheila, wow. Thanks for sharing your experience and how your daughter has recovered. Very lucky indeed. Just a thought: have you had any personal trauma work after this event? To address the fear you have now of her playing soccer.... Of course it makes sense to have fear but it’s not pleasant (I assume) for you and could be relieved a bit using other than talk therapy: Memory Reconsolidation techniques to adjust how the deeper mind is holding the traumatic event. So your mind stops scanning for the event. I do this work myself but there are others using these methods. Best wishes to you!

I was jumping my horse in late October of 2017 and took a sudden, hard fall to my head after a nasty refusal. I blacked out for a few seconds and then asked my husband where was I and what horse was I riding. After fear, I got a CScan and everything looked fine. However, I tripped, fell and hit my head (same spot) on my tile floor in the Summer of 2018 and it knocked me unconscious for I don't know how long (minutes or a few hours). I woke up on my own to find blood on the floor. I haven't been the same since. I get mood swings, super angry at nothing and don't remember why I got mad, short term memory loss, tired all the time but then randomly can't sleep. My head also itches constantly where I hit it, both times, and it has been nearly 7 months since my last fall. I can work, but my focus isn't as clear as it use to be. I can't focus on two things at once like I always did. Does anyone else have this problem or dealing with the same symptoms?? My husband researched and said for me to give it a year to see if it improves as reoccurring TBIs take more time to heal.

Do not wait to see a specialist. I waited and now have permanent brain damage. My light head injury has continued to decline and now 4.5 years later, I am miserable seeking permanent disability and unable to work.

I suggest you go to pituitary.org and find an Endocrinologist who can check you for damage to your pituitary gland. You may have to travel to see one of these doctors, but it is well worth it. The "run of the mill" Endocrinologists I've seen really weren't up to diagnosing my TBI. Also, you'll probably need an MRI. A CT Scan doesn't offer a high enough resolution.

If I drink I can distinguish no effects on me consciously. Like I can't tell when I'm drunk, I "feel" "fine". Which is different and scary. It gives someone who was a boozer frustration as there becomes even less of a point to drink so it makes you ask yourself why even bother.

Memories are distorted. I'll remember an event but remember the details of that event completely wrong. Different hair styles, clothes, weights, things that happened. I woke up in a different dimension. So that different dimension pertains to myself as a person as well. I don't feel like I know him, which is strange. Living in a body you don't even know the history of very well. Different languages as long as I think I've had some training in them are easy to understand and translate in the brain. Which is cool but...different. You'd be surprised. My body sensation is split in two, left and right. My right side is numbed, so taste and smell are effected. I was right handed so everything dominated by the coordination of that hand is effected in a negative way. I had to relearn to walk right, relearn to write. Relearn my own signature.

I have the same issue with alcohol. My mind stays crystal clear but my body gets "drunk". Like I stumble or even fall. I just gave up. What's the sense. Also, I don't know if you have this problem, but 1 small drink will give me the worst hangover. Very strange.

Came across your TBI story. Been there. Decades ago I was a troop in Vietnam. Three mortar attacks, been shot at and missed, but decades later as civilian I suffered a brain injury in a fall in my bathroom! (those tile floors can be just as unforgiving as the Vietcong! :-) Recovered over much time and attention to my own thought processes. Here's wishing you a great transition to, in effect, a whole new life...that can, in many many ways, be very rewarding and offering new compassion for other folks who have been messed up in so many different ways.
My Best!

I took a medication for acne that injured my brain.
I suffer from really heavy brain fog, constant migranes and preasure in my head, memory issues.
I also developed really heavy visual snow and i see really vivid colors when close my eyes.
also severe tinnitus..Im quick to anger, and feel very numb and depressed...I feel like a ghost of my former self in a sense.
It has been a year now...I had to drop out of medical school, i was admitted to a psychward for 2 months...
my life was changed dramatically, but i try to keep strong and rebuild my life.

Wow I thought I was the only one . I had a bad childhood have high blood presure ‘ I am now in darkness lost for words my eyes roll around I have so much fear in my head I loose my Direction have good and bad days

My friend was exposed to carbon monoxide. Since then, she has changed and lost a lot of weight. My main concern though is that she stole something from my home recently as she has a key to my house. She comes to walk my dog when I travel. She was NEVER like this before and I cannot trust her anymore. Could carbon m. poisoning have caused this personality change?

I have suffered from 7 whiplashes, none of the car accidents were my fault. I've also had 2 concussions and a broken tailbone which paralyzed me for some months.

The doctors and chiropractors I went to insisted on doing new x rays each time. I tried to get them to give me my x rays but they said I would lose them. Instead they lost them.

I think all the x rays contributed to the large brain tumor that nearly killed me 6 years ago. Fortunately, I had studied to be an Ayurvedic physician for 26 years. I wish I had known it was a brain tumor before I was incapacitated, unable to read or walk; but I thought the pain I was experiencing was the result of my past injuries.

I told my husband how to treat the cancer and he took care of me for the year and a half it took to heal. I've been doing very well, working 7 days a week helping others heal from cancer, then 5 days ago had a brain stem injury. I couldn't breathe well or swallow for a couple of days but I used some of the same techniques from when I had the brain tumor and I'm recovering.

To all my relations suffering from TBI, consider using natural therapies instead of surgery and harsh drugs.

Not a new injury, the old 1. The old injury could have caused some sort of damage that wasn't detected then but over the years, has grown, moved or just taken its toll. I am a TBI patient that has been going through this for 20 yrs, ergo, I'm something of an expert. I strongly recommend you take her to a neurologist and get an MRI. Good luck!

At 4 I fell of the swing in Denmark. Was traumatized at 11 when my parents moved to Canada. Had a difficult time making friends and had to go through 5 grades in school in 1 year.Had to quit school at 13 to work. Fell off the roof of a house I was working on and had my second concussion. was forced to leave Canada at 15 and ended up in Chicago. Got a concussion at 16 from someone dropping a large timber from a roof where I was working. Joined the US Army in 1961 at 17. Had some very traumatic experiences in Korea when my buddies got run over by tanks and shot from the DMZ.
4 more concussions from falls in commercial construction. Had constant head aches and loss of vision for up to 36 hours. At 70 I was walking the dog and it pulled me down and I cracked open my skull and was out for over 10 days. 2 years later at 72 I had another collapse in my driveway and layed there for over 2 hours before the neighbor called the ambulance. I can remember at least 7 head injuries so maybe that is why I can't remember names but I have no problem with numbers, spelling and history only names and where did I put my car keys?

In March of 2008 I was involved in an accident at work. An engineered I- beem was dropped from 15 feet and hit me in the foreheadjust above the left eye. I am still suffering severe headache's anxiety and confusion. I have a lump the doctor told me is a calcium build up, am I being dramatic or could there be something wrong or overlooked? I have been refused tests when this first happened.

Hey if it makes you feel any better. From what you explained, you are the only one that I can relate to. I cut my forehead open about a year and 4 months ago. Developed a hematoma(calcium build up) weeks after the injury. I was not a huge cut. During this process I had headaches, which was my main symptom. Couple moths after the injury one day I woke up and everything just felt different. My memory wasn’t as sharp, brain felt foggy, headaches from time to time, Dreams were extremely different, left pupil looked disoriented, and My body needed more sleep. Doctor x-rayed my brain and found nothing. Tired of going back and forth to the Nuerologists just to hear them tell me that all tests are coming back fine. To this day, I have had slight improvement, but I can still tell that I’m not as healthy as I was before. It’s like the injury knocked my nervous system off wack. I feel where you are coming from and I personally feel like the doctors and neurologists are overlooking something in our case. No you’re not being dramatic because I feel your frustration, but hopefully eventually we’ll get to the bottom of it. Until than we just have to improve.

My son had a brain stem (closed head) Injury, he has been in a nursing home for 31 years, mentally he’s very good but it’s his physical body that has been affected. He is bed ridden. His hair now has very thick white stuff looks like dandruff. A strong shampoo has been prescribed and I wash his hair and comb it with a fine tooth comb and a real thick paste comes off his head. What is this?

My husband hit his head at work and was knocked unconscious. He lost his eyesight in one eye, kept falling asleep everywhere( including when he was at work driving a tow truck), always had headaches, weight gain, had fluid leaking from his nose and ears, and many more issues. His company doctor knew that there was damage but lied and said there was nothing wrong with him. We were trying to get someone to listen to him. He went through the rest of his life a different person than the man I had spent 23 years of my life with. He died 18 months after his injury.

When I was 3-4 my brother dropped a rock on my head (soft spot) and knocked me out. As I grow older I find that sinus issues/deviated septum w/bone issues by my teeth, and find that I have a hard time coordinating the left side to work with the R - playing piano, drums, skating or skiing. The r side is so dominant that the left doesn't know how to coordinate and as I get older I am finding recall is a bit worse. SInce that time I have hit my head several times but not knocked out . Is my left side a product of the blow to the head not corrdinating properly?

Hi my brother had a bad car accident in South Africa in 1989 and he was in a coma for about a month . Once he got out Hospital ,we had to teach him how to walk talk, eat etc. his optic nerve was cut off so he is blind in one eye. He made a lot of progress in 1994 at Roosevelt warm springs and was hopeful for a good recovery. After that he returned back to South Africa and has slowly went down hill. At the moment he can hardly walk as he looses his balance and can not stop himself falling forward. He has split his head open 3 times in the last month. We are looking for help in any way to improve his condition. He is 50 years old at the moment. Thanks for your time

I got hit by a car at 18 yrs old and lost a quarter of my right skull I'm waiting on a titanium plate I was in a coma for only a day now I am 20 yrs old and wonder if I'll live long enough for my daughter I never had seizures until I hit my head 3 months ago. I feel everybody is against me I feel like I can still do things I used to but I can't. My left hand coordination is weak I dont even work it out or do anything healthy, people tell me I should be grateful and stuff but I dont know why I dont do good for myself I'm always depressed and angry and blame people for no reason I just started taking keppra like 3 months ago when I actually had a seizure. I have bad thoughts I even explode on my family like if they're taking my things but sometimes I actually find it. But yes I'm waiting on my plate still, I think because I abuse marijuana I'm not healing myself it actually gives me inflammation in my head and makes my memory worst but I'm so lucky even luckier than most people the guy that hit me did it on purpose and is now doing 8 years in prison but he ruined my life. I can't even play with my daughter because I feel she will accidentally hit my brain. If people that see this please just pray for me my name is Angel Torres that'll help me.

My son was hit by a car 8 months ago and suffered a severe TBI. He had part of his skull removed for 5 months. He struggled with all of the things you are struggling with but is getting better day by day. He has started driving again and hopes to be back at work soon. Things got a lot better after his skull was replaced. Now anger is is biggest challenge. Try to stay positive, you are young and they say you have a good chance of the best recovery when you are young. You will be in my prayers.

My boyfriend was just recently hit in a car accident a few days ago and is in the ICU now with a Traumatic brain injury. They immediately did surgery when he got here and had to stop a brain bleed on the right side of his brain along with removing the bone on that side. When he is not sedated he does respond to there pain assessments and his pupils respond also from what they are telling me. I have seen him move when they pinch him or whatever but he isn't moving around as much as he was the 1st day. Now he doesn't move or do anything when he is sedated. He hasn't woken up at all or even opened his eyes or squeezed my hand. Im just wondering how long it would take for him to wake up since some of u have close to the same situation. Can someone please just give me some kind of peace of mind. This is just so hard watching him and waiting and hoping and praying that he can get thru this.

I feel your pain ...My boyfriend has just come through intensive care and woken from his coma he was induced for 6 days and in his own for 5. He can follow me with his eyes and squeeze my hand intermitedly we are still in intensive care and noone can give me answers. I do know this though he is improving every day and the word time has taken on a whole new meaning.

i had a brain tumor removed when i was 13 and had a stroke during the surgery as a result of the brain reacting to the disturbance of being surgically removed 26 yrs. although im blessed to be alive i have issues with short term memory and alot of that year i cant recall. i have been told that everything i say makes no sounds or has relevance to the topic on hand or that not distancing a movie from 1992 from one made in 2012. i cant help but feel like im dumb in these situations. am i getting worse?

I recently fell and suffered a TBI. I fell 3 or 4 years ago and the same thing, a TBI.
They were pretty hard falls. (I am an incomplete quad) after both falls I experienced something that I’ve never heard of before. It’s hard to describe. It’s kind of an echo of my own voice. The first time it went away. This time no. It’s been maybe 6 months. It’s very distracting. Can you help?

I am 62 now but have a plate in my head from a fractured skull when I was 13 years old. I have noticed recently that the side of my forehead if the injury is changing. Are my bones not as well supported since the bone is replaced by a plastic plate. Are my bones moving and should I be concerned?

Wow you are an inspiration to me. I got hit by a car 2 years ago and I'm missing a quarter of my right side skull I always question my life expansion I will be getting a titanium plate soon. Do you think I will make it to 62? I never had seizures until I hit my head a year after my accident. I just started taking keppra as well because I never needed it until I hit my brain, very mild cut on the brain though. What do you think ? Also my left side coordination has gotten better. I got hit at 18 years old I am now 20

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which is dedicated to ensuring that impacted post-9/11 veterans, service members, and their families are thriving long after they return home.

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